Note: If you are having serious thoughts of harming or killing yourself, please still do seek immediate medical attention. Things cannot get better if you are not here, and these places can help keep you safe.

At my local GP, I have received advice to self refer myself to the counselling service — even if I don’t feel I need it at that time. Chances are, my doctor says, by the time the appointment comes through, I’ll have either improved so much I’ll cancel it in plenty of time, or I’ll have deteriorated to the point where I need it. The state of waiting times in our area means that you have to guess how you will feel a month or two from now in order to ensure you’re getting the appropriate care.

If we’re raising awareness, we should be raising awareness of the different kinds of therapy available. CBT is the one everyone seems to know, but group therapy, art therapy, less intense one-on-one talking therapies exist, to name but a few. Or, like Becki Crossley, you might find your first lot of therapy doesn’t work at all and not know there are other options and even just other therapists that you can try.

“We need to talk, but we also need there to be someone to talk to; and we’re not getting that at the moment from our Tory-run NHS.”

As we break down more internal barriers to accessing mental health services, more people are more likely to come up against these external barriers — you’ve spoken to someone, but what now? And our government seem to be ignoring the problem. In 2016, the Prime Minister told us that there was to be record spending on mental health services, when in fact a freedom of information (FOI) request to Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs – these spend the most of the NHS budget on services) showed 57% were planning to reduce spending. It might still be possible that spending is going up in other CCGs, but the government no longer publishes the report that would inform us of this.

For this Mental Health Awareness Week, 10 Downing Street also put out a video on Twitter of the Prime Minister showing her support for Mental Health Awareness; a video which has received a lot of responses pointing out May’s hypocrisy in being a part of the party that is causing undue stress on our NHS mental health services. From not funding it as much as it needs to be, to the stripping of disability benefits from people with mental health issues, to the general unrest and increase in various conditions as a response to austerity measures.

Theresa May also mentions that more people than ever before are receiving treatment for their mental health, a statistic which is true — there has been an increase on a few years ago of numbers of referrals received. However, of referrals received, only 42% of people go on to “finish a course of treatment”. Of course, some of the patients who never attend an appointment, or who attend but are not treated will have had this outcome because of the stigma associated with seeking mental health treatment — the report doesn’t state reasons for patient dropout — but at least some of these are going to be due to lack of options and lack of choice.

As we work on getting people to talk, work on the ever so important job of breaking down stigma, the record levels of people seeking treatment are going to continue to go up — and I hope they go up to the point where everyone who needs treatment gets it. But the fact is that the services the NHS is providing are just not going to cut it as society gets better at opening up.

We need to talk, but we also need there to be someone to talk to; and we’re not getting that at the moment from our Tory-run NHS.

Caroline Marie McDonagh-Delves

Caroline is an intersectional feminist, body positive fat activist, and a champion of disability awareness. She is the No Bull Wellness Guru, which considering her chronic illness, is more for irony than anything else.

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